| A |
| A-Game | 1) The highest-stakes game in a given establishment. Opposite of Z-game. 2) One's best game, in terms of the quality of one's play, as, 'He's playing his A-game.'
|
|
| Able | An obsolete term for the player immediately to the left of the dealer in games that use an automatic betting scheme. Also called edge, elder hand, or eldest hand. Sometimes the player in that position is the last to bet before the draw, which is equivalent to the situation involving an under-the-gun blind.
|
|
| According to Hoyle | With respect to the rules of poker, proper; a vague phrase invoking authority.
|
|
| Ace | The highest or lowest card in the deck. If the cards are arranged in order, the ace either starts this sequence: A-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-T-J-Q-K; or finishes this one: 2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-T-J-Q-K-A. In high poker, the ace is the highest card in a hand, with one exception: when it is part of a 5-high straight, that is, in this hand: A-2-3-4-5, of mixed suits.
|
|
| Ace in the Hole | In a stud game, having an ace as one's down card or one of one's down cards. This being a desirable condition, the phrase passed into general usage as an advantage or resource kept in reserve until an opportunity presents itself.
|
|
| Ace Out | To win (perhaps by bluffing) while holding an ace high hand (that is, a relatively worthless hand, since it doesn't contain even a pair). This phrase passed into general usage with the meaning of winning by deception or just barely beating someone. (If your opponent holds a totally worthless hand, an ace-high hand would just barely beat him; that is, you would ace him out.)
|
|
| Ace to Five | In a game played for low, ace to five means straights and flushes don't count and the ace can be used as a low card. The best possible hand in an ace to five game is therefore A2345 (often called a wheel).
|
|
| Ace Up the Sleeve | Describing the situation in which a cheater has withdrawn an ace from the deck to be introduced into the game later, or, more generally, has taken some unfair advantage. The phrase passed into general usage to describe the situation in which someone is hiding some probably unfair advantage.
|
|
| Ace-High | A five-card hand containing an ace but no pair; beats a king-high, but loses to any pair or above.
|
|
| Ace-to-Five Draw | In a game played for low, ace to five means straights and flushes don't count and the ace can be used as a low card. The best possible hand in an ace to five game is therefore A2345 (often called a wheel).
|
|
| Ace-to-Five Lowball | In a game played for low, ace to five means straights and flushes don't count and the ace can be used as a low card. The best possible hand in an ace to five game is therefore A2345 (often called a wheel).
|
|
| Acepots | A form of high draw poker, in which a player cannot open the pot without holding at least two aces as openers.
|
|
| Aces and Spaces | A five-card hand consisting of two aces and three other worthless cards.
|
|
| Aces Over | 1) Pairs, one of which is aces. 2) A full house with aces over any pair.
|
|
| Acey-Deucey | 1) Two pairs, aces and deuces. 2) In hold 'em, A-2 as one's first two cards. 3) A non-poker game, usually played in home games, but also found rarely in casinos, in which players bet that a third card in succession will fall in rank between the first two, which are dealt face up before the bet. Sometimes called Red Dog.
|
|
| Act | To do something when it's your turn, one of: check, call, fold, open bet, and raise.
|
|
| Action | 1) The relative liveliness of a game, often measured by the frequency and quantity of bets and raises. 'This game has a lot of action.' Often part of the phrase fast action. 2) Being required to act. When it's your turn to do something, someone might say, 'It's your action,' or, 'The action is up to you.' 3) That portion of the pot that a player short of the full bet can win a multiple of. In a no-limit game, if John bets $100, Jim calls the whole $100, and you call, but you have only $20, you are said to have $20 worth of action in the pot. A side pot of $160 will be created between John and Jim; $20 of John's bet goes into the main pot, as does $20 of Jim's bet, and all of your bet; you can win the $60 main pot if you win.
|
|
| Action Button | A bet that must be posted, in a seven-card stud high-low game, by the winner of a scoop pot above a certain size, signifying a full bet (a blind raise, in other words), rather than just a call of the original forced bet. Any player who acts before the action button can only call the bring-in. The holder of the action button essentially raises blind, and then, when it gets back to those who have only so far called the opening bet, they can either call or raise. For example, if the low card normally must bet $1 in a $5-$10 game, and there is an action button out, anyone who calls the $1 is committing to bet $5 later. No one would call the $1 without intending at least to call the blind raise by the action button. Whether the action button acts in turn, or after everyone else has acted, depends on the card room.
|
|
| Action Only | In many card rooms, with respect to an all-in bet, only a full bet is considered a legitimate wager, in terms of whether this constitutes a raise that can be re-raised. Anything less than a full bet is considered to be action only, that is, other players can call such a bet but not raise it. For example, Chloe bets $10. Henry calls. John goes all in for $14. When the bet gets back to Chloe, she is permitted only to call the extra $4; the same goes for John. See discussion at full bet.
|
|
| Active | Still in contention for a pot. 'Before the draw, there were five people in the pot; after the draw, there were three active players.'
|
|
| Active Player | A player who is still in the pot.
|
|
| Add-on | The opportunity to buy additional chips in some tournaments. Some tournaments allow players the opportunity at a certain point to buy additional chips, called an add- on. This is different from a re-buy, because usually anyone still in the tournament can add on, and the opportunity to add-on usually marks the end of the re-buy period. I was in such bad chip position, I decided it wasn't worth paying for the add-on.
|
|
| Advantage | Same as edge (An advantage over an opponent, either specific or subjective.).
|
|
| Advantage Player | A thief or cheater, that is, someone who wins by taking an advantage.
|
|
| Advantage Tool | A cheating device, as a marked card or a mechanical device for hiding one or more cards, as, for example, a holdout machine.
|
|
| Advertise | To make a bluff with the deliberate intention of being exposed as a loose player. Advertising usually means showing down a mediocre hand, to give the impression that you play overly loose or that you play a generally weak game. The idea is that other players will then give you more action when you make a legitimate hand. Since people are bad at revising first impressions, this potentially beneficial effect can be long-lasting. Typical advertising plays in hold'em might be to show down top pair with a weak kicker (e.g., K2), middle pair, or a gut shot draw that missed. These hands have marginal intrinsic value, but playing them early in a session might pay off later. Of course, it's best to advertise if you actually want to be called down more often, e.g., at an especially tight table. At a table full of calling stations, it might be unnecessary or even harmful. Advertising can also mean anything you do at the poker table to manipulate how other players assess you.
|
|
| After-Hours Game | A private game, played after a card room closes for the night, often held in a motel or hotel room, and sometimes crooked.
|
|
| Age | An obsolete term for the player immediately to the left of the dealer in games that use an automatic betting scheme. Also called edge, elder hand, or eldest hand. Sometimes the player in that position is the last to bet before the draw, which is equivalent to the situation involving an under-the-gun blind.
|
|
| Aggressive | A style of play characterized by frequent raising and re-raising. This is not the same thing as loose play. Many good players are selective about the cards they will play, but aggressive once they get involved in a hand. An aggressive table is one dominated by aggressive players.
|
|
| Ahead | 1) Winning. 'Are you ahead or behind?' 2) With regard to a reference position at the table, acting before (usually immediately before). If the deal is one position to your right, you are ahead of the deal. If a player is sitting to your right, he acts ahead of you.
|
|
| Ainsworth | In hold'em, 6-2 as one's first two cards.
|
|
| Air | 1) In a lowball game, letting another player know whether you are going to draw cards or not, sometimes letting the player know how many, usually with the intention of getting that player into the pot. Usually part of the phrase give air. 'Gimme some air. I'll draw two if you're drawing one.' 2) Inadvertently exposing cards; usually part of the phrase put air into [a hand]. 'You'll like sitting next to Johnny; he puts a lot of air into his hand.' That is, if you sit next to Johnny, the way he holds his cards you can often see some of them, which, presumably, gives you an edge (albeit an unethical one) on him.
|
|
| Ajax | In hold'em, A-J as one's first two cards. Also called foamy cleanser.
|
|
|
| Alexander | The king of clubs. Probably comes from Alexander the Great.
|
|
| All ( Blue, Green, Purple, Etc. ) | Colorful terms to describe a flush.
|
|
| All Black | Having a spade or club flush. Also, all blue, all purple.
|
|
| All Blue | Having a spade or club flush. Also, all black.
|
|
| All Green | Having a flush. This term is used only by those who have played a lot in home games and not much in card-rooms.
|
|
| All Pink | Having a heart or diamond flush. Also, all red.
|
|
| All Purple | Having a spade or club flush. Also, all black, all blue.
|
|
| All Red | Having a heart or diamond flush. Also, all pink.
|
|
| All the Way | Betting all one's chips, usually preceded by go. 'If I make this hand, I'm going all the way.'
|
|
| All-in | To run out of chips while betting or calling. In table stakes games, a player may not go into his pocket for more money during a hand. If he runs out, a side pot is created in which he has no interest. However, he can still win the pot for which he had the chips. Example: 'Poor Bob - he made quads against the big full house, but he was all-in on the second bet.'
|
|
| All-in Bet | A bet made by a player in which he puts all his chips in the pot because he is all in.
|
|
| Alone Player | A card thief working with no confederates.
|
|
| Amc. | 'All my chips.' An announcement, usually in a no-limit game, on his turn that a player is betting or raising all of his chips.
|
|
| American Airlines | In Hold'em, a pair of Aces in the hole. Better known (at least in rec.gambling) as Pocket Rockets.
|
|
| Ammo | Chips. 'Houseman, I need more ammo' is a request for more chips.
|
|
| Ammunition | Chips. 'Houseman, I need more ammunition' is a request for more chips.
|
|
| Anaconda | A form of seven stud in which cards are passed to left and right, sometimes multiple times, and sometimes with five cards chosen at the end and rolled, that is, exposed one at a time. Also called pass the trash, Screwy Louie
|
|
| Angle | Any technically legal but ethically dubious way to increase your expectation at a game; a trick.
|
|
| Angle Shooter | A poker player who uses various underhanded, unfair methods to take advantage of inexperienced opponents. The difference between an angle shooter and a cheat is only a matter of degree. What a cheat or thief does is patently against the rules; what an angle shooter does may be marginally legal, but it's neither ethical nor gentlemanly. Nor is it in the spirit of the game. Unfortunately, poker is not a gentleman's game. In addition to learning how to protect yourself against cheating players, you must learn to watch out for the angle shooters.
|
|
| Announce | In high/low games, declaring one's hand as high or low or both ways (usually done with chips in hand). Usually played in home games.
|
|
| Announced Bet | A verbal declaration by a player, in turn, in a no-limit or spread game, of the amount of his bet, or, in other games, that he is betting. In games in which announced bets are permitted, they are usually binding (when made in turn).
|
|
| Ante | 1) One or more chips put into each pot by each player before the cards are dealt. An ante is not part of a player's next bet, as opposed to a blind, which usually is. 2) The player to the left of the dealer, usually in an ante and straddle game.
|
|
| Ante and Straddle | A game in which the player to the left of the dealer (the ante) puts in (usually) one chip before getting any cards, and the player to his left (the straddle) puts in two chips. (Sometimes the dealer also puts in one chip.) The first player to have a choice on making a bet after having seen his cards is the player two positions to the left of the dealer. This is an old name for what is now called a two-blind traveling blind game. This is similar to a blind and straddle game. Also see little blind, middle blind, big blind.
|
|
| Ante Up | Put one's ante in the pot.
|
|
| Ante Up. | A request, usually by the dealer, to one or more players to ante up.
|
|
| Apology Card | In lowball, the appearance in the current hand of the card that would have made one's hand the previous hand. For example, a player draws to A-2-3-4 and catches a four. Next hand, he looks at the first card he receives from the dealer. It's a five, which he turns face up for the whole table to admire (presumably because some of them may never have seen a five before), while saying, 'There it is, the apology card.'
|
|
| Apple | Big game, often the biggest game in a particular club. 'I lost $1000 in the apple today.' Also, big apple.
|
|
| Argine | The queen of clubs. May be an anagram of Regina (queen in Latin), or a corruption of Argea.
|
|
| Around-the-Corner Straight | In high draw poker, a special straight, a nonstandard hand sometimes given value in a private or home game, five cards in a series in which the sequence of cards is considered to continue from king through ace, as, for example, J-Q-K-A-2. Sometimes the hand ranks between three of a kind and a 'normal' straight; sometimes it ranks between a 'normal' straight and a flush.
|
|
| As Nas | An ancient Persian game that some say is an ancestor of poker.
|
|
| Asian Five-Card Stud | A California game, a form of five-card stud played with a stripped deck.
|
|
| Asian Games | The former name for California games. The term is still sometimes used in casinos and card-rooms.
|
|
| Asian Stud | A California game, a form of five-card stud played with a stripped deck.
|
|
| Assault Rifle | In Omaha, hole cards that are A-K-4-7 of any suit(s)
|
|
| Assigned Bettor | The player who is first to bet in a particular round.
|
|
| Auto Ante | This option determines if you have to manually ante on each new hand. Generally it is easier to let the computer ante for you, but it is more realistic to ante up yourself)
|
|
| Automatic Bet | A bet, often a bluff, made, regardless of one's cards, in a situation in which the bet usually wins. For example, in a lowball game, if one player drew four cards and passes after the draw, and the next player drew one, the latter almost always makes an automatic bet, because most of the time that player has the best hand and the few times that he doesn't, the drawer of four cards doesn't call anyway.
|
|
| Automatic Bluff | A bet, often a bluff, made, regardless of one's cards, in a situation in which the bet usually wins. For example, in a lowball game, if one player drew four cards and passes after the draw, and the next player drew one, the latter almost always makes an automatic bet, because most of the time that player has the best hand and the few times that he doesn't, the drawer of four cards doesn't call anyway.
|
|
| Ax | The percentage of a pot kept by the management to pay expenses; usually called drop.
|
|
